Too Bad
by Blaze2Sage
Summary: [AU] Neji is looking for a partner but finds out he is not the only one who needs a special person in his life. [Nejiten]


**Sage:** This idea is taken by my friend who suggested Naruto in tennis, which happens to be my favorite sport next to basketball, so enjoy!

I don't own Naruto

**Too Bad**

"Hey I heard Hyuuga Neji fired his training partner again!"

"Does that mean the spot is up?"

"What? His coach isn't going to be happy with that..."

"You fired another partner?" said Lee questioning Neji as he serves a top spin onto the opposite side of the court. Lee ran off quickly to return the shot.

"Yeah," said Neji. He flew back to back line and shot back. Lee smiles at him before letting go of the shot. Neji's left eyebrow rose up

"Why did you do that?"

"Well, maybe I can be your doubles partner,"

Neji immediately snorted and took his tennis racket and placed it behind his neck. He loosened up and dribbled the tennis ball before giving another top spin serve.

"Sorry Lee but you know that you and I can't work together. Remember the Chuunin play-offs?" He watches as Lee hit the ball with a back hand.

"Yeah but we still won,"

"We got lucky." hisses Neji while delivering a powerful return to the back line. Lee looks back at the line and smiles

"Game to Neji once again," Neji smirks before placing his tennis racket to his right shoulder. Lee sighs as he gathers all the balls.

He says, "Why can't you play singles then?"

Neji shrugs before helping Lee.

"Coach thinks it's youthful of me to socialize and to 'work' with another partner. There is no guy on this earth who could be my partner. I have said that to Coach Maito already,"

"What happened with Uchiha?"said Lee

Neji felt tense hearing that name. His eyes rolled and said, "That pompous bastard thought he would do better in singles rather than in doubles,"

"Ah...I remember him. He was going after his brother for a rematch but didn't Naruto beat him in a match right before his match with Itachi?" said Lee laughing. Lee and Naruto used to be doubles partner until they lost one match to the Kimimaro and Kabuto of the otoga. Since then, they rather play each other than be partners, however they were still on friendly terms.

"Exactly." said Neji nonchalantly.

"Hey, Naruto beat you after you ruthlessly beat Hinata in a 6-0 match,"

"Don't remind me of that..." Neji mumbled. He played his cousin unofficially in his backyard but Naruto was there to witness. How he got into his backyard, he'll never know. Later on, Neji played against Naruto in the Chuunin play-offs and went into a tiebreaker. Naruto then won with a 7-6.

"Your cousin just wants to improve herself," Neji rolls his eyes and gathers up all the balls then he placed his racket in his bags before leaving. He waves to Lee and says, "I know that now. Right now I have to find a parter before Coach Maito gives me another speech of socializing problems,"

Lee shooks his head as he waves back.

"Maybe you should ask Naruto, he's a great doubles partner,"

Neji snorted at the thought of having Naruto as a partner. He didn't mind the blond haired boy but even after Naruto beat him in the play-offs, they weren't on a friendly terms. Neji was walking home when he noticed an empty tennis court on the way. He remembered that the city was going to put in a refurbished tennis court near his home. Since it wasn't late, he decided to give one last practice. When Neji walked into the supposedly empty tennis court, he sees a girl practicing by herself as she hits the ball on the wall with her racket.

With a closer look, he noticed she has been hitting in that same spot over and over again. Slightly impressed that she could do such a thing, he walked over there with a smug smile. He tapped her on the left shoulder, not realizing the swift tennis racket hit him in the head.

"Ouch..." Neji said holding onto his pain with his left hand. The girl let the ball dropped and saw the man behind her. She gasps sharply and immediately apologized.

"I didn't see you, I mean, I was sure no one was here so I-,"

"Play me," Neji said bluntly. The girl blinked and thought his head was damaged even more. She shook her head and said,

"You're injured. I'm not playing with an injured man,"

"I'm fine. Come on, get over to an empty court and let's go," grumbles Neji. She had a strong hit and not only that, she didn't drop the racket after he hit him. Either she hit his head too hard or he's impressed that she's good.

"You know, it's common courtesy to state your name before challenging a stranger," she said while lifting a left eyebrow.

"I'm Hyuuga Neji," he said as he stood outside of the back line. The girl was on the opposite side of the court and winks at him.

"My name is Tenten. I just moved here from Daimyou," she said smiling while moving back and forth with her feet.

"Daimyou? Do you know Haku?" She was thinking deeply before grinning at her opponent

"Yeah! He's my brother!" Neji defaulted a little bit. She was the sister of Haku who was known for his twist serve. He recalled Haku defeating Sasuke and Naruto in a doubles match with his mentor, Zabuza. When they had their rematch, however, Haku and Zabuza were defeated and it made both of them quit tennis for the rest of their lives. He wasn't sure if the sister of Haku is as good as he but he wanted to find out.

"Are you also the sister of Kidomaru, the sharp shooter of Daimyou?" Kidomaru was known for his accuracy but unfortunately he had a tendency of fooling around and 'toying' with his opponents. Neji remembered he was disqualified because he threw tennis balls at his opponent's face. Later on, Kidomaru was gone and no one had knew where he had left. He would've gone pro if not for his cocky attitude.

"He's not my brother." Tenten's smile faltered and pointed the racket at Neji. Her eyes pierced at him and said, "Honestly. Just because I am the sister of Haku doesn't make me the sibling of every famous person in Daimyou,"

Tenten winks at him. Neji growls as he starts off with his topspin serve while Tenten ran off quickly to lob it over the net. Neji told himself that it was too easy as he ran off and smash the ball however he didn't expect her to return it over his head.

_'Damn it!'_

He kicked off his foot and jumped to the ball. With luck, he managed to return it, not long till he fell on the ground, and the ball was called out. Tenten smiles at him and gave him a peace sign

"I'm an all rounder, don't you know?" Neji pats himself down and smirks back at her with his racket on his shoulder.

"What do you know...so am I..."

Thus the tennis match started. It was a long match which included witty remarks, flirty comments, and a smacking of tennis ball back and forth. When Neji finished it off with a smash, he smirks at her and said

"Game, Set...match to me. You're not as good as your brother just yet,"

Tenten blew off her bangs and placed the racket on her left shoulder.

"I know. I'm still learning after that defeat with the Sand League," she snorted. Neji vaguely remembers the Sand League but he never met the group. He had heard that Gaara faced off Lee in that one match but he can't recall who had won. He shrugged it off and said,

"You're pretty good for your own style,"

Tenten smiles at him while giving a peace sign to him. Neji's not sure if he should be annoyed by that or give a peace sign back.

"Thank you! You're not too bad yourself," Tenten commented. Neji thought he was excellent but then again he didn't get a flawless victory.

"I'm not always great as a single although I'm an all-rounder," Tenten says seriously. She looks down at the ground and said,

"Even my brother...and that sand girl could beat me in a flawless victory. Haku once told me that I need a special person (1). I didn't really get what that meant and I thought he was teasing me but now that I think about it. Maybe, tennis isn't my thing," It was quiet until Tenten laughs nervously at him while giving hand gestures

"That was a great match, I hope to see you again Hyuuga Neji," she winks at him and places her racket into her bag. She swung the bag at her shoulder and sighs at the stars.

"What do you think? Should I keep being a loser?" When Tenten didn't hear a response from her opponent, she head towards the exit. It wasn't long when Neji find himself alone under the moon and the bright stars. He let the racket drop and sighs at the stars as Tenten did before.

"If you're a loser, then I suppose I'm a loser too."

_'After all, I need a special person too,' (2)_

Too bad, they didn't realize what they want was in front of them the whole time.

..too bad.

**End  
**

**(1) – **Pretty much everyone has a special person (AU or not). Haku has Zabuza, Temari has Gaara and Kankurou, Lee has Gai, Sakura has Ino, Ino has Sakura, Shikamaru has Chouji, Hinata has Naruto, etc... Which is why Haku stated that she needed a reason to play tennis. She needs to find a person that is special to her. Who else but Neji? Well actually I'm going by the game rules (Naruto: Narutimate Hero) in which the characters have support characters. (i.e. Naruto's support character is Iruka, Sakura's support character is either Sasuke or Kakashi, Lee's support character is Gai. Well in the game, Neji's support character is Tenten.)

**(2) –** Same thing from number (1).

**Sage: **I'm trying to get rid of humor in my stories from now on. Maybe a little bit of humor but not excessively. It means I'm trying to change my stories now. That's all folks.


End file.
